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[Sirus]

Sharpshooters...useless?

I must be playing the game wrong then. My sharpshooters do nothing but rack up kills.

[Aklyon]

They would be better if I could figure out whrre to put multiple ones, yes.

[Lightningfalcon]

That being said, FD is right about the scout tree perks being mostly lackluster (Though Rapid fire is amazing when combined with run & gun and talon rounds.)

Rapid Fire isn't from the scout tree...does that mean the scout tree is ENTIRELY lackluster?

Look again, m80, it is. It's the top ability in the tree (the assault line gets Reaper), and one of the few saving graces in it.

Of course, it's even better when you roll it randomly. I got it on a Specialist, which was nice, both because of their general low direct damage and because I like to stick Superior Repeaters on their rifles.

I got it on my grenadier. It is a straight up upgrade from chain shot. Which, with shredder, can strip off all the armor from a sectopod in one burst.

[RAM]

My problem with sharpshooters is that they take a full round to shoot the rifle, and you are on a timer...

[Chiefwaffles]

Not that hard to solve. Just find a good spot where your sharpshooter can see any possible future enemies for a few turns, and when the sniper is getting too far away, sprint them towards your squad and repeat.

[Rince Wind]

Grappling hooks also help, because using one doesn't cost an action.

[Sirus]

Not that hard to solve. Just find a good spot where your sharpshooter can see any possible future enemies for a few turns, and when the sniper is getting too far away, sprint them towards your squad and repeat.

Pretty much this. It's all about finding a good elevated spot for your sharpshooter(s) to position themself/selves, then letting them rain death from above. If they have Longwatch they become superbly good at popping pods that wander into your sight range, often before they activate and run for cover.

[Flying Dice]

My problem with sharpshooters is that they take a full round to shoot the rifle, and you are on a timer...

Do what I did: don't actually train them. Just wait until you can recruit them as Colonels. Mine rarely shoot unless they're cleaning up six kills or mass-overwatching.

Spoiler: I love the shredstorm cannon (click to show/hide)

[Toaster]

Yeah, I sort of disdained them myself... until I got a Colonel sniper. One of those posted up at the back can be an absolute life-saver, as long as you time the reloads properly.

That's what auto reloads are for.

[Flying Dice]

Yeah, I sort of disdained them myself... until I got a Colonel sniper. One of those posted up at the back can be an absolute life-saver, as long as you time the reloads properly.

That's what auto reloads are for.

Eh, I prefer Scope + Extended Mag.

[Neonivek]

Pistoleer Snipers seem to fall off the face of the earth unless you get them some good ammo. Put anti-mech rounds on them and they will cut down just about any robotic enemy.

[Chiefwaffles]

My problem with pistol sharpshooters is that they quickly become much less useful when enemies start to pack more armor. Even with a beam pistol, they end up doing something similar to 2 damage to lots of enemies.

[Flying Dice]

AP rounds. There's nothing else to use on snipers, TBH.

[BFEL]

My WORD I love this run so much already. Thought I was gonna Ironman but I guess playing the tutorial disables that, but sure glad it did cuz FIRST DARK EVENT UFO HUNT. That didn't show up as the mission option for the region I started in. But savescummed out of that because FUCK.

But yeah, bunch of mods running. All the LW ones, accurate swords, some dope customization ones and most importantly the one that lets any unit use any weapon. God that's been amaze.

And this last turn was the most beautiful thing I've ever seen. Dark VIP mission, first one with a MEC in it, which was IMMEDIATELY taken control of right out of concealment, followed by this turn where it ran to the VIP and triggered a pod. Positioned sniper using dash. Check hack rewards of nearby hackable. Can refund all my actions.
So dash my ranger and the rookie up in the face of the pod then grab the reward. MEC missed stun lancer and floor fell out from underneath it, so had to overwatch the sniper. Rookie finished off the lancer and ranger sworded the viper but it had two health left. Viper bugs out of there, gets hit by sniper overwatch.

This whole run has been like that.

[EnigmaticHat]

You didn't get it as an option because you can only have as many guerrilla missions available as you do contacted regions (+1 for resistance HQ).  Be happy; if you fail a guerilla mission without having contacted anyone nothing bad happens (besides not getting the mission rewards/dark even cancel).

I think I'm going to refrain from balance discussions until I've started a new game on legendary.  All strategies need to be considered not in a vacuum but compared to Xcom's needs as a whole.  What Xcom needs is to survive until the black market opens and mag weapons are available.  Those two things crack the game open like an egg, although I could see not having enough resources to stop the avatar project even if you do get that far.

I've also heard from you guys that the lategame gets hard on legendary.  I'm... struggling to see how that could be the case to be honest.  Having seen the commander difficulty lategame there's not much in it that's scary; and that's coming from someone who completely skipped psi.  That being said I'm ready and willing to be surprised.